5/12-16/15, Planet Hollywood, Las Vegas, NV

[Teh Dingo]

Man, this album and tour's propaganda theme is getting a bit too propaganda-y '


Is there someone on the back of the truck with a megaphone shouting "ALL HAIL AL! AL IS LIFE!"

[richegreen]

Holy cow that was an amazing show tonight (as was the rest of my vacation in Vegas so far!) I had 5th row seats, the best I've had since I was right on the stage back at Toads Place in 1996. I went in completely blind to the setlist, so there were some big surprises in there (I wasnNOT expecting a unplugged set, and it was very cleverly done). However I won $20 from my girlfriend (her first Al show, my 18th, and she got the "melts the elastic in my underwear" line sung to her) that he would open with Tacky and enter through the back, so I'm up $17 for this trip so far. Fat in the first hour was just strange, and I'm surprised he brought Pentiums back at all (since even WN has some outdated lyrics),but I also forgot how much fun that song was live! And I have no words for how awesome the live arrangement of Word Crimes was!!!!

[Elvis]

Hey Rich!

Yeah, I'm digging IAATP too. I don't really think of it as outdated, but rather a time capsule of when it was recorded. A lot more people at the show tonight. Not close to selling out, the balcony was still empty, but the whole floor was pretty full. I think there might have been some technical issues in WBUL. It just sounded off, and Al was behind where he usually is in the audience, and had to run and walk fast to get on stage in time for the clapping. Also he forgot some lyrics to WC, so he looked at the video screen to catch his place. I don't blame him, it's a tough song, and he doesn't use any teleprompter like other performers. Anyway, that's just minor stuff, it was a really good show and the audience was loud and into it. We had third row, almost dead center. I was really digging the view. In case I didn't mention it, the lighting this tour is amazing. Lots of LED lights, and whoever is running them really know what they are doing to make the stage look amazing. Especially DTBS and the encore. Partly because of the lighting, I find myself getting lost in the moment during the Yoda Chant. We were sitting next to two guys originally from NYC area, but now located out of San Fransisco, who were having the time of their life. Everyone is getting so creative with costumes too. One guy in the front row had tacky down pat, and the people sitting in front of us had made their foil hats in the shape of a poodle and moose antlers!

After the show, we got to say a quick hello to Nancy (Diva) before they shuffled us out. We met Ranger Bob in the lobby and took pictures with the stormtroopers, then Bob, Jackie, and I went to dinner at P.F. Chang's and then painted the town red. There was an awesome Elvis impersonator in front of Planet Hollywood. He looked and sounded like Elvis, but he also was ventriloquist and living statue. Very nice guy too, he encouraged photos and everything. He would also move suddenly and scare people walking by. We watched him for several songs, before heading over to Cosmopolitan where Bob was a big winner -- he won $4.75!

I'm loving this Vegas thing. Catching a great show, then hanging out and having fun with friends into all hours of the night.

Dave

[Yankomaniac]

Nothing like Vegas, no doubt. It's always sooo hard to leave that place, especially when you've been there for more than a couple days. Sounds like an incredibly Al-tastic week you lucky ducks are enjoying Dave!

[spmahn]

Hey Rich!

Yeah, I'm digging IAATP too. I don't really think of it as outdated, but rather a time capsule of when it was recorded. A lot more people at the show tonight. Not close to selling out, the balcony was still empty, but the whole floor was pretty full. I think there might have been some technical issues in WBUL. It just sounded off, and Al was behind where he usually is in the audience, and had to run and walk fast to get on stage in time for the clapping. Also he forgot some lyrics to WC, so he looked at the video screen to catch his place. I don't blame him, it's a tough song, and he doesn't use any teleprompter like other performers. Anyway, that's just minor stuff, it was a really good show and the audience was loud and into it. We had third row, almost dead center. I was really digging the view. In case I didn't mention it, the lighting this tour is amazing. Lots of LED lights, and whoever is running them really know what they are doing to make the stage look amazing. Especially DTBS and the encore. Partly because of the lighting, I find myself getting lost in the moment during the Yoda Chant. We were sitting next to two guys originally from NYC area, but now located out of San Fransisco, who were having the time of their life. Everyone is getting so creative with costumes too. One guy in the front row had tacky down pat, and the people sitting in front of us had made their foil hats in the shape of a poodle and moose antlers!

After the show, we got to say a quick hello to Nancy (Diva) before they shuffled us out. We met Ranger Bob in the lobby and took pictures with the stormtroopers, then Bob, Jackie, and I went to dinner at P.F. Chang's and then painted the town red. There was an awesome Elvis impersonator in front of Planet Hollywood. He looked and sounded like Elvis, but he also was ventriloquist and living statue. Very nice guy too, he encouraged photos and everything. He would also move suddenly and scare people walking by. We watched him for several songs, before heading over to Cosmopolitan where Bob was a big winner -- he won $4.75!

I'm loving this Vegas thing. Catching a great show, then hanging out and having fun with friends into all hours of the night.

Dave

Yikes with the initialisms! Ok, I can't for the life of my figure out, what is IAATP?

[minnick27]

It's all about the pentiums

[OneWAY]

While we're on the subject of initialisms, what is the "P.F." in P.F. Chang's?

There's been some references to how the crowd has been dying down in Vegas, which figures, since a residency in a single venue for that long is bound to get tired eventually. I mean, I would go a lot, under the right circumstances, but still. I still kinda hope there's a couple changes eventually, but the show is developing a comfortable flow, it sounds like.

[spmahn]

While we're on the subject of initialisms, what is the "P.F." in P.F. Chang's?

There's been some references to how the crowd has been dying down in Vegas, which figures, since a residency in a single venue for that long is bound to get tired eventually. I mean, I would go a lot, under the right circumstances, but still. I still kinda hope there's a couple changes eventually, but the show is developing a comfortable flow, it sounds like.

Well, really as much as we may love him, the reality is that Al is a niche act with a limited audience as far as who is going to pay to see him in concert. That's why he plays the 1200 seat theater and not the 10,000 seat arena. It's also an off season in Vegas, we're still a month or so away from the tourist season there, so it's really no shock that playing 5 shows in a row at the same venue in the same market would have diminishing returns.

[Elvis]

None of the shows were sold out, but I don't know that I would say they were small audiences either. For Vegas, they were good sized audiences. I've certainly been to Vegas shows with smaller audiences. And there were a lot of people I talked to coming out to Vegas this week, just to see Al. Tonight's show was packed actually, the biggest, and loudest audience so far.

Very good show again tonight. A few celebrities in the house. For example, I saw Andy Richter in the lobby and after the show. Also, we were sitting right in front of two of Neil Diamonds' keyboard players. And Tom Lennon came up on stage and sang "Yoda" with Al. And Suzanne and her parents were there too. Suzanne got sang to during WBUL and also her forehead licked.

Before the show we met up with Vikki, Cid, and Julie. Vikki and Cid had VIP lounge tickets so Julie, Jackie and I wandered around the casino and mall while they partook in that. We had pizza at Pin Up Pizza which was surprisingly good for not being New York pizza. And Vikki was kind enough to give me her poster

I saw Jerry again in the lobby. He was out of uniform as he had a plane to catch right after the show, and Bob was there too. I also briefly said hi to Ethan, who was one of the contest winners. I saw Andy Richter and Tom Lennon in the lobby as well. They were with their families so I wasn't sure of the etiquette and decided to play it safe and not to ask for a photo.

Like I said the concert was good and the audience was really into it. I heard a lot of loud laughter so I think there were a lot of first-timers there. During AORTB, the accordion sound was off and it looked as if Al's accordion bellows got stuck and he had to bang on the bottom of the accordion to free them up. There was little snafu during WBUL. At the part where Al usually leaves the stage to go into the audience, he stopped, did a few more woo woo woos, and went back to motion something to the band then they got back in sync and he went into the audience like usual, except he crawled over the railing to get to . Also, the video that usually follows him around the audience wasn't working.

Word Crimes probably got the biggest reaction of the night. Also, for TSB, everyone was singing along, and at time I think the audience was louder than Al. For Yoda, Al asked the audience to sing, then Tom Lennon walked onstage and Al said "Now just Tom Lennon and then Tom sang. Nice surprise!

I had passes for after the show, and wow it was a mad house. There were so many people there that they split the pass holders into three groups, the contest winners, the VIP package people, and the rest/CPFOA. Jackie and I were in the latter group and I actually felt a little out of place. This wasn't the typical waiting by the bus crew. Jackie and I were easily the least famous people there. Andy Richter was there, and two keyboardists for Neil Diamond.

But we did get some time to talk to Bermuda for several minutes as well as exchange some Al stuff we collected for each other. And I'm really excited for some upcoming as-of-yet unannounced concert dates! I also got to talk to Jim West, and Steve Jay came over to say hello and chat with us for a little while too. Everyone is in good spirits and excited for the tour.

We only had about a minute of Al's time. Now keep in mind, there were 100 contest winners and each one brought a guest, plus maybe about 45 VIP package people, not including his CPFOA, so that's over 250 people Al had to meet tonight, so I totally understand, was fine with the short time we had, and I'm thankful for time he was able to give us. But in that minute Jackie was able to show Al some pictures she had of an Al-related project she had made, and I was able to present Al a book (on behalf of Weird Al Star Fund) by Tom Richmond (MAD magazine artist) in which Tom hand drew a picture of Al in congratulation for his #1 album. This was done last July 2014, so it was before all the MAD magazine guest editor stuff. Anyway, I will let Vikki tell the whole story if she wants to share. And we even got this nifty picture!



Afterwards, I met up with Vikki, Cid, and Julie in Paris, and we took a long walk to see the volcano at Mirage, and then a late night snack at Chipolte. Totally fun times in Vegas!! I wish I could do it all again!

Dave

[Muppetboy09]

Just saw a video from (I think) two nights ago, and during the end of Wanna B Ur Lovr, he has a lot of trouble hitting the high notes, and improvised most of it with just screaming things like "I want you, specifically you!" before going into the falsetto singing (which he was unable to reach the right note) Has he done this every night? And I am not bashing on him, it is just he used to be able to pull that off so effortlessly, so I am wondering if that section of the song might be changed a little for later dates.